The mental component of peak performance

In an earlier post, we discussed some aspects of "peaking" for distance running competitions. The discussion focused primarily on the importance of progressing from "general fitness" to "race fitness" as the date of competition approached. In light of more recent posts (here and here) regarding the conscious appraisal of fatigue, it seemed fitting that a further wrinkle should be added to our discussion of achieving a peak.

The recent posts to which I referred above discuss a paper by Dr. Tim Noakes which suggests that the sensation of fatigue is not a "physical event" in the working muscles so much as a brain-based emotion, the appraisal of which affects the way athletes decide how hard to push themselves in a race setting. The paper provided the conscious element of Dr. Noakes' otherwise unconscious Central Governor Theory for which I had been searching since writing an earlier discussion on the role of expectation in exercise performance. Accordingly, I'm beginning to think that "peaking" involves a mental as well as a physical progression from general to race fitness.

I admit ignorance when it comes to the specifics of mental racing fitness, but Dr. Noakes' paper offers one possible way of better understanding its nature. As he describes:

"...somewhere in the final section of the race, the brains of the second, and lower placed finishers accept their respective finishing positions and no longer choose to challenge for a higher finish."

Accordingly, a conscious mental decision regarding some variation on the question "Am I going to win this race?" would seem to be the final step of several in the termination of exercise in races. Admittedly some athletes push beyond the physical capacity of their bodies and pass out (making their conscious choice moot), but having the ability to keep affirming "yes" to the question stated above--even under the most intense sensations of fatigue brought on by racing--may indicate the chief mental component of peak racing performance. For simplicity's sake, we might call this component mental toughness.

How does one go about bringing mental toughness to a peak? As we described in an earlier post on the effect of expectation on performance, changes in the way an athlete appraises available information alters the level of performance they can achieve. In the experiment discussed in that post, cyclists who believed they were racing an avatar of equal ability to themselves managed to race 1% faster over 4km than previous time-trials suggested they could go. While the effect was limited, it suggests that the mental component of fitness is, at least in part, derived from the way athletes interpret information during a race.

In his book Lore of Running, Dr. Noakes presents a model describing how stimuli interact with aspects of the mind to yield behavior. An incoming stimulus is interpreted by a belief system, which through the positive or negative interaction between thoughts and emotions yield behaviors. Thoughts, emotions, and behaviors all provide feedback to the belief system, which undergoes changes as a result (Lore of Running, 529). The belief system then, appears to be the vanguard of the mind's capacity for toughness under rigorous circumstances.

According to Dr. Noakes, "The difference between a strong or weak belief system is determined by your self-concept," which he defines as, "what you believe about yourself" (532). Furthermore, the "self-concept is not static: every day [it] faces new challenges that will either enhance or detract from it."In this way, self-concept is analogous to physical fitness, in that it changes over time depending on circumstances. One big difference I see is that while physical fitness tends to change gradually, the self-concept has the potential to change daily.  One should expect individual variation in this regard, but it seems important to bear in mind that how we interpret stimuli is always responding to feedback from our thoughts, emotions, and experience.

This points to an important element of preparing the mind for a peak performance; namely, by establishing a positive feed-back loop between emotions, thoughts, and behaviors as a way of strengthening the belief system, and thereby increasing our capacity for mental toughness in racing. In general this seems to mean helping athletes develop habits of positive self-talk, in which the mind habitually encourages itself when faced with adversity. For some athletes this will probably come quite naturally, but for others I suspect it would require much effort. The rewards of a strong self-concept would most likely extend beyond the bounds of sport, and as such is a valuable skill for any athlete to cultivate.

The basic takeaway from the preceeding discussion is that mental aspects of performance play an important role in peak racing. As such, any program seeking to bring athletes to a peak on at the desired moment would do well not to neglect this modest but potentially decisive component of fitness. As one paper discussed my Dr. Noakes concludes, most athletes are, 'physically overeducated but emotionally undereducated'" (Tutko and Tosi 1976, page 11 in Noakes, Lore of Running, 517). Correcting this imbalance may do much not only to improve performance, but also improve athletes' emotional well-being, and long-term interest in sport. Something to consider anyway.

Happy Thursday, friends :)